The Very Perfect
Sunday, June 11, 2023
Not All of Us Can Be Perfect,
Or Capture the ‘Perfect Water Droplet’
(which does not exists, anyway.)
Isaiah 31:6
Turn back to him whom you have deeply betrayed, O people of Israel.
1 Timothy 1:15
The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.
Words of Grace For Today
Humble Pie.
While the world is full of bullies, liars, and doers of evil, so much so it seems it’s impossible to find even one good person –
which reminds one of the visiting pastor to the Lutheran Church of Hope in Tinytown, Anywhere. He was following up on inquiry made to him directly about serving this new church in his spare time. That was an odd request since he was moving to a small town a little jaunt away to start his retirement. Still he met with the chairperson, who showed him around the church building and the church yard. It looked pretty new if small.
He asked as they approached the altar how many members the congregation had. The reply told him everything he needed to know, and more:
Well, ten years ago we were 150 members. But so many were not serious about their faith, so most of them left leaving us with 30 active members. Then two years ago there was a fight between two families. It was groundless, at least in the present. But they had been fighting for generations so who knows what it really was about anymore. So I told both families they could either make peace or leave. Both families left, not just the one’s fighting but all their relatives and a few friends. That left us with 10 active members. In the last two years I’ve worked to avoid any more fights. When someone does not measure up to the standards of our faith I tell them to shape up or ship out. All of them have chosen to ship out. Now we have a real good congregation of two people: myself and my husband. But lately I’m not so sure about him either. I’ve come close a few times to telling him to shape up or ship out. But he’s come around on his own.
–
The problem with fixing everyone else, is it blinds us to our own faults, and that blindness drives us to judge others harshly, maybe as harshly as they deserve, but not as harshly as we ourselves deserve.
The sign of a faithful person is one who can readily say that God’s grace is needed more by one’s own miserable sinful self than any other person.
The writer of the letter to Timothy had it right:
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.
We can be glad that he claimed that spot. At least we are not as bad off as he was … or?
May your day not force you to be humble, but may you find joy in starting each day humbled by the wonders of God’s grace, and Christ’s work to save us all.